anne-witton-blog

iPhones and the Bible

Fri, 14 May 2010 17:30:18 +0100

I have to admit that I think iPhones are cool. Every time the ads come on TV I become more convinced that I need one. The message of the app store ads is clear – whatever your need, whatever your interests, wherever you are, there is an app for that. Whether you need to check your train timetable, look up a recipe or just want to kill some time playing a game, there is an app to suit your need. So what’s that got to do with the Psalms? Written thousands of years ago, the Psalms encompass the whole spectrum of human emotion from doubt and despair to hope and gratitude. What I love about them is that there are no glib or trite answers. Raw human emotion is laid bare and there’s no attempt to skirt round the fact that life can be painful, cruel and downright incomprehensible:

From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have suffered your terrors and am in despair. (Psalm 88: 15)

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62: 5)

My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" (Psalm 42: 3)

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; For you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. (Psalm 59: 16)

I love the fact that there is a God who understands what it means to be human, who allows us to be honest about how we feel and is big enough to pick us up when we’re at our lowest ebb. And that’s something that no iPhone can ever do. So, whatever you’re going through, just remember - there’s a Psalm for that.

Watercolour

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:13:46 +0100

I enjoy being a member of Whey Aye WI as we get to hear lots of interesting talks and have a go at some fun activities. Last night we were watercolour painting, which is a lot harder than it looks! I don't think I'll be selling my camera to buy an easel any time soon, but I was quite pleased with the two cards I managed to produce:

Narration in PowerPoint

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:11:44 +0100

I wanted to create some stand-alone training PowerPoints for work, but had problems when the narration I’d recorded didn’t seem to synch properly with the animations of the slides. Having done a bit of research on the internet, this seems to be a common problem and it took me ages to work out an answer, so I thought I’d post it on my blog in case it’s helpful for anyone else.

So here’s how to add a narration to a PowerPoint and export it so that it runs seamlessly with the timings that you want (and isn’t too large!). I’m using PowerPoint 2007 but hopefully this will work on earlier versions as well.

(1) Record your narration. There are lots of straightforward guides as to how to do this, but I found the TechRepublic guide very useful. You should now have a PowerPoint with linked narration, but the difficulty is getting this into a format where it can be shown easily on other computers. My first attempts resulted in no narration at all or the narration being frustratingly out of synch with the slide animations. So here’s how I overcame the problem:

(2) First, compress the pictures in the PowerPoint so that you’re working with the smallest file size possible.

(3) I found it helpful to re-name the sound files with the slide that they relate to, but this isn’t strictly necessary.

(4) Take the sound off each slide of the PowerPoint. (Click the speaker icon and hit <delete>)

(5) In order to make your sound files smaller, convert your .wav sound files to .mp3 using Eufony free sound converter:

(6) Delete the .wav files. It’s not possible to embed .mp3 files into a PowerPoint, so you will need to fool PowerPoint into thinking your.mp3s are .wav files. Use Cdex open source audio extractor to add a .wav tag to the .mp3s:

(7) Delete the .mp3 files if you didn’t during the conversion process.

(8) Now we need to embed the sound into the PowerPoint presentation. Go back to your PowerPoint, go to slide sorter view and duplicate (Ctrl + D) all the slides.

(9) Click on the second slide of each pair, go to the ‘Animations’ tab and click the dropdown ‘Transition sound’.

(10)Go to ‘Other sound...’ and choose the sound file that corresponds to that slide.

(11)The sound will start playing, but if you want to interrupt it, press <F5> to start the slideshow and then <esc> to return to the slide sorter. Do this for each of the pairs of slides so that all of your narration is now embedded in the slideshow.

(12)If you have animation on your slides that builds up as the narration plays, you will need to make sure that the first slide of each pair displays what you want it to when it first appears and you may need to go through deleting objects from the first slide that you want to be revealed later.

(13)Now you can rehearse your timings to get the animation to appear in exact time with the narration. Go to the ‘Slideshow’ tab and select ‘Rehearse timings’:

Click the spacebar to advance each slide and animation within a slide as the narration progresses.

(14)Now your slideshow should be ready to export. The best way to do this is to select ‘Save as...’ and then choose ‘PowerPoint Show’:

(15)That’s it! I hope this has been useful.

Published!

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:40:28 +0100

April is Cancer Awareness month and so is an appropriate time for the launch of the Paws For Charity Art Book 2010 to raise money for Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade.

This beautiful book features images of dogs and cats from 65 artists and photographers (professionals and amateurs) and is 75 pages long. Along with some beautiful images, it contains photos of the artists, information about them, and a statement in their own words.

There were over 300 submissions by artists and photographers from around the world and I'm thrilled that I was one of the ones chosen to be published! So, my sleepy cat will be appearing alongside lots of other furry friends!

The book is available from Blurb.com in either softback or hardback. It would make a great coffee table book for animal lovers, and remember that all the proceeds go to a really worthwhile charity.
You can find out more on the Paws For Charity blog.

FOR SALE: Well appointed 2-bed Tyneside flat in Heaton

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:18:25 +0100

The time has come for me to sell my lovely flat on Chillingham Road in the desirable Heaton area of Newcastle.
Property particulars are as follows:

* Well appointed 2-bed, ground floor Tyneside flat

* Property comprises: Large front bedroom, back bedroom, lounge, kitchen, bathroom, front garden, shared yard to rear.

* Gas central heating

* Partial double glazing

* Sanded floors in hall, bedrooms and lounge

* No upwards chain

* Great transport links (bus and Metro very nearby); lots of shops, cafes and pubs on Chillingham Road, Shields Road and Heaton Road; low council tax band

Offers in the region of £109,950.

I have instructed Rook Sayers Matthews, so if you're interested, phone 0843 314 0051 or check out the listing on Right Move.

Procrastination

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:40:21 +0100

I was idly surfing the internet when I came across CartoonChurch.com and this cartoon seemed pretty appropriate:

And having looked at the internet, I think now I'll go and have a nice cup of tea!

New Traidcraft catalogue

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:44:23 +0100

The new Traidcraft Spring / Summer catalogue is here and it contains a set of cards featuring my Thailand photos!

You can buy the cards at the Traidcraft online shop. It costs £5 for a pack of six and you get 3 each of 2 designs.

The cards are made from FSC certified material and revenue raised from sales is ploughed into Traidcraft's work, helping the fight against poverty in the developing world.

9 History of Photography sites

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:46:18 +0100

(1) National Media Museum - Fantastic free museum in Bradford
(2) Living Image Vintage Camera Museum - Fascinating online collection of old cameras
(3) Museum of Science and Industry - The Manchester-based museum has an excellent photography collection
(4) Victoria and Albert museum - Photography microsite with photographer profiles, processes and theme tours
(5) Fox Talbot museum - Fascinating museum dedicated to the 'Father of Modern Photography' in Lacock, Wiltshire
(6) Life in a Lens - Small museum in Matlock Bath presenting the history of popular photography with a Victorian emphasis
(7) Dimbola - Galleries and museum on the Isle of Wight dedicated to Julia Margaret Cameron's work
(8) Ted's Photographics - Useful timeline of the history of photography. Site also features short bios of famous photographers
(9) Robert Leggatt - Useful list of museums of photographic interest, bios of significant people and descriptions of key processes. Would benefit from some pictures though!

New cards - funny animals

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:04:34 +0100

The first new set of cards for 2010 are now on my website and available to buy. The 'Funny Animals' set features a yawning emu, a highland cow with a long tongue and a lazy reptile! Buy the individual cards here or buy the pack here. I have 30 other packs of cards available, so why not have a browse while you're there? All proceeds go to charity and P&P is free!

Wurzel Witton

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:26:59 +0100

Now that my hamster has died, it's difficult to know what to do with all the shredded paper I acquire when I order card materials. I suppose there's always this: